Hankook Tire Recall Revisited

[ep010835]

I'm aware that the subject of the tire recall has been beaten to death but I wanted to pass along my experience today.

I drive a 5.0 Ultimate. I decided to wait until my tires were getting worn before getting new ones. All 4 tires were at 4/32nds and 5/32nds so it was time to act.

As we all know, Hyundai's replacement is with the Continental ProContact. After following the thread closely about how narrow this tire is, I decided to write their engineering dept to find out definitively the width of the tire. They responded as follows:
The 245/40ZR19 has a section width of 9.8" on a 8.5" rim and tread width of 9.3" for both tires
The 275/35ZR19 has a section width of 10.9" on a 9.5" rim and tread width of 10.4" for both tires

I measured the OEM Hankook Ventus S1 Noble 2 to be approximately:
9 1/2 " on the 245/40ZR19
11" on the 275/35ZR19
So I concluded that the tread on the Continentals being too narrow was something that I agreed with and therefore wanted to find a replacement that was wider and more substantial looking. My first step was to contact both my dealer and HMA. Both confirmed that my ONLY option with Hyundai replacing the tires would be with the Continental ProContact. My next call was to Hankook.

The Hankook customer service people told me that they would replace the OEM tires with the Hankook Ventus V12 Evo2. This is a ZR tire rated at 100Y for the 275/35 and 98Y for the 245/40. This was all well and good to know but what about the width. I spoke with one of their engineers who told me that the width on the 275/35 is 10.9" and on the 245/40 is 9.7". Based on all of the above I decided to go with the replacement Hankook tire.

I contacted my local Discount Tire and explained the entire situation to the salesman who, like everyone that I've ever come into contact with Discount Tire, was over the top helpful and absolutely on the top of his game. He contacted Hankook, got authorization for the replacement and ordered the tires. Two days later the tires arrived and were installed. All of this at ZERO cost to me. I'm a fan of the DT certificates so I bought them for all of the tires (strictly optional) so I was out the door for $129.

I've only driven about a hundred miles so far today but thus far I'm completely happy with the ride, the handling and the road noise. They look fabulous. They are at least as wide as the OEM tire and maybe even a tiny bit wider (strictly a subjective observation). Next week I'm going do a 4 wheel alignment.

The tread pattern is unusual, at least to my eye, on the new tires. See the attached photo. Should be interesting to see how they feel and perform during the next heavy rain.

Hope that some of this is at least interesting to some of y'all and maybe even helpful to a few.

 

[LA Genesis]

Very interesting. I thought only Hyundai dealers could change out the Hankooks. I hadn't heard that Hankook could/would do the tire replacements.

 

[Mark_888]

What is a DT certificate?

 

[cane2025]

I also changed my tires at DT. I got the A/S 3. I also got the certificate to replace the tires if they were to be damaged. The only complain I have about DT is that they don't use nitrogen. Other then that i have always used them.

 

[ep010835]

DT Certificate = Discount Tire replacement certificate

 

[PMCErnie]

Well-written, ep!

 

[2015MontecitoBlue]

I'm writing from Canada. I have yet to make the switch. I drive the 3.8 which means switching from the Hankook's to Michelin MXM4s. I am somewhat hesitant to make the move as I had those tires on my Toyota Avalon and had serious flat spotting and vibration issues.

I contacted Hankook Canada with a view to getting new Ventus' not subject to recall and they said they could do nothing for me - that I had to go to my dealer.

For the Canadians on this forum, any advice/feedback on your experience (either with the Michelin's or your dealer in general) with this recall?

 

[ksoze]

The 245/40ZR19 has a section width of 9.8" on a 8.5" rim and tread width of 9.3" for both tires
The 275/35ZR19 has a section width of 10.9" on a 9.5" rim and tread width of 10.4" for both tires

I measured the OEM Hankook Ventus S1 Noble 2 to be approximately:
9 1/2 " on the 245/40ZR19
11" on the 275/35ZR19

Thanks for the update. In the same boat soon. Am i reading this right that the Conti replacements are actually .2" wider in the front and only .1" less in the rear? Is your second OEM measurement the section width or tread?

 

[forzza1]

My experience with the new Contact Pro Tx tires has been fairly unpleasant.
It seems the side wall on Conti tires is softer than Hankook. This translates in jerky side to side movements of the car at lower speeds. They are very quiet though..
Also i agree with OP: the rear Conti tires look narrower than former Hankook tires.

 

[Mark_888]

DT Certificate = Discount Tire replacement certificate

I guess they used to call that a road hazard protection plan.

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[CanukV6]

I'm writing from Canada. I have yet to make the switch. I drive the 3.8 which means switching from the Hankook's to Michelin MXM4s. I am somewhat hesitant to make the move as I had those tires on my Toyota Avalon and had serious flat spotting and vibration issues.

I contacted Hankook Canada with a view to getting new Ventus' not subject to recall and they said they could do nothing for me - that I had to go to my dealer.

For the Canadians on this forum, any advice/feedback on your experience (either with the Michelin's or your dealer in general) with this recall?

My suggestion is to contact Hyundai Canada and be sure you talk to the Genesis customer support rep and ask if they will authorise replacement with a different tire. The MXM4's are definitely not the same specification as the OE Hankook tires (Grand Touring A/S vs. Ultra High Performance A/S) and therefore Hyundai is degrading the specification of your car by fitting them. Not that it is of any real disadvantage, but they also reflash the ECM to reduce the top speed since the Michelins have a lower speed rating. I also agree that the MXM4's have terrible flat-spotting issues and vibration issues.

 

[ksoze]

Wish there was another Hankook tire that fit the V8 other than the Max Summer Hankook Ventus V12 Evo2. The lack of AWD and V8 may be prime for a performance tire, but wet weather and minor snow performance is a factor. The Contis' do not look appealing (and poor reviews on TR) and the Evo2's have less than stellar performance on wet roads. No good all weather option from Hankook that fit and may be covered.

 

[jsmit86]

I'm writing from Canada. I have yet to make the switch. I drive the 3.8 which means switching from the Hankook's to Michelin MXM4s. I am somewhat hesitant to make the move as I had those tires on my Toyota Avalon and had serious flat spotting and vibration issues.

I contacted Hankook Canada with a view to getting new Ventus' not subject to recall and they said they could do nothing for me - that I had to go to my dealer.

For the Canadians on this forum, any advice/feedback on your experience (either with the Michelin's or your dealer in general) with this recall?

I had issues with my MXM4s. Both the OEM tires and a replacement set had vibration issues. Hyundai ended up swapping mine with Conti Extreme Contact DWS 06 tires. They are great. See if they will allow those in your case. They are highly rated for wet and snow performance too. Another type that are highly rated are the Michelin Premier A/S. Overall the MXMs are rated OK, but it seems several forum members had similar vibration issues.

Let us know how you make out.

 

[ep010835]

Thanks for the update. In the same boat soon. Am i reading this right that the Conti replacements are actually .2" wider in the front and only .1" less in the rear? Is your second OEM measurement the section width or tread?

The way that I understand it all is:
Conti front is 9.3"
Conti rear is 10.4"

OEM Hankook front 9.5"
OEM Hankook rear 11.0"

New Hankook front 9.7"
New Hankook rear 10.9"

Making the Conti front approx .2" narrower than the OEM
and the Conti rear approx .6" narrower than the OEM

And the Conti front .4" narrower than the Evoc2
and the Conti rear .5" narrower than the Evoc2

If I'm doing this correctly, all measurements refer to tread width not section width.

 

[ep010835]

I guess they used to call that a road hazard protection plan.

Maybe calling it a "certificate" sells better!

 

[lobsenza]

Discount Tire includes prorated replacement for road hazards in the base price. If you use the additional warranty, you will have to repurchase it on the replacement tire.

I decided long ago not to buy the extra warranty. I have lost occasionally, but i am way ahead overall.

 

[Midnightsun]

I'm writing from Canada. I have yet to make the switch. I drive the 3.8 which means switching from the Hankook's to Michelin MXM4s. I am somewhat hesitant to make the move as I had those tires on my Toyota Avalon and had serious flat spotting and vibration issues.

I contacted Hankook Canada with a view to getting new Ventus' not subject to recall and they said they could do nothing for me - that I had to go to my dealer.

For the Canadians on this forum, any advice/feedback on your experience (either with the Michelin's or your dealer in general) with this recall?

Canada seems to be on a different planet some times!

I had my Hankooks replaced with the offered Continentals and cannot say I am disappointed, in fact I really like them.

HOWEVER. Since my car already claimed a new set of tires I had a dilemma as I did purchase a set of stock staggered wheels with the Hankooks on them in basically new condition (Maybe 500 miles of wear) so I now had 2 sets to claim. In all fairness, I was quite content on having new tires for when the originals wore out but then the recall came about so yes, this transaction was made prior to any advertised issues with the Hankooks. I tried contacting Hankook for a solution and was hoping they would send me to a tire place to have them replaced however they said to take them back to where you bought them. I told them this was a private sale and there was no taking back. I explained over and over but no way were they going to budge.

Bottom line is I ended up calling transport Canada who in turn contacted them which got me a quick response on how they would refund me my cost of my purchase. They sent UPS to pick up the tires and once they had received them they cut me a cheque for $800.

There is always a way. This is a safety recall and they are obliged by law to pay you or supply a replacement. Unfortunately Hankook has covered all bases by sending us Canadians to the dealer where they put on the allocated tires and will not do it any other way. My purchase from a private party did throw a wrench in the system though.

 

[Alwaysforward]

I'm aware that the subject of the tire recall has been beaten to death but I wanted to pass along my experience today.

I drive a 5.0 Ultimate. I decided to wait until my tires were getting worn before getting new ones. All 4 tires were at 4/32nds and 5/32nds so it was time to act.

As we all know, Hyundai's replacement is with the Continental ProContact. After following the thread closely about how narrow this tire is, I decided to write their engineering dept to find out definitively the width of the tire. They responded as follows:
The 245/40ZR19 has a section width of 9.8" on a 8.5" rim and tread width of 9.3" for both tires
The 275/35ZR19 has a section width of 10.9" on a 9.5" rim and tread width of 10.4" for both tires

I measured the OEM Hankook Ventus S1 Noble 2 to be approximately:
9 1/2 " on the 245/40ZR19
11" on the 275/35ZR19
So I concluded that the tread on the Continentals being too narrow was something that I agreed with and therefore wanted to find a replacement that was wider and more substantial looking. My first step was to contact both my dealer and HMA. Both confirmed that my ONLY option with Hyundai replacing the tires would be with the Continental ProContact. My next call was to Hankook.

The Hankook customer service people told me that they would replace the OEM tires with the Hankook Ventus V12 Evo2. This is a ZR tire rated at 100Y for the 275/35 and 98Y for the 245/40. This was all well and good to know but what about the width. I spoke with one of their engineers who told me that the width on the 275/35 is 10.9" and on the 245/40 is 9.7". Based on all of the above I decided to go with the replacement Hankook tire.

I contacted my local Discount Tire and explained the entire situation to the salesman who, like everyone that I've ever come into contact with Discount Tire, was over the top helpful and absolutely on the top of his game. He contacted Hankook, got authorization for the replacement and ordered the tires. Two days later the tires arrived and were installed. All of this at ZERO cost to me. I'm a fan of the DT certificates so I bought them for all of the tires (strictly optional) so I was out the door for $129.

I've only driven about a hundred miles so far today but thus far I'm completely happy with the ride, the handling and the road noise. They look fabulous. They are at least as wide as the OEM tire and maybe even a tiny bit wider (strictly a subjective observation). Next week I'm going do a 4 wheel alignment.

The tread pattern is unusual, at least to my eye, on the new tires. See the attached photo. Should be interesting to see how they feel and perform during the next heavy rain.

Hope that some of this is at least interesting to some of y'all and maybe even helpful to a few.

I greatly appreciate your post. I got the Conti replacements and do not like them as much as the Hankook's I had. It is good to know that I can get Hankook's back on my car once these Conti's wear out. I was the one who posted that the Conti's were significantly narrower than the OEM Hankook's that we got with our 5.0 cars. Thanks again for the post ep010835.

 

[MNgen]

Replaced my recalled Hankook tires about a month ago at Discount tire. They gave me $150 each towards new Yokohama YK740 GTX All Season tires. Couldn't be more happy with the new Yokos which so far give a much more quiet comfortable ride. The real test comes this winter in snow/ice traction. The Hankooks were absolutely horrible in snow.

 

[sensazngen]

The way that I understand it all is:
Conti front is 9.3"
Conti rear is 10.4"

OEM Hankook front 9.5"
OEM Hankook rear 11.0"

New Hankook front 9.7"
New Hankook rear 10.9"

Making the Conti front approx .2" narrower than the OEM
and the Conti rear approx .6" narrower than the OEM

And the Conti front .4" narrower than the Evoc2
and the Conti rear .5" narrower than the Evoc2

If I'm doing this correctly, all measurements refer to tread width not section width.

So I'm a bit confused here. Tires should be the same measurements if they are the same size shouldn't they? I understand that the each tire has its own tread pattern and appearance but how can a the same tire vary in measurements based on manufacture? I think of when I use an online tire calculator and it only asks for size of the tire but not the manufacture. A 245/40/19 tire should have the same width/height/ diameter regardless of manufacture shouldn't it?